Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax
Neelesh Bhatnagar, chief executive officer of Emax, announced that the consumer electronics retailer is planning on opening ten more stores throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council states employing an additional 500 people by the end of 2012.
Bhatnagar said that Emax already has stores in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The only GCC country where there is no Emax yet is Kuwait, but according to Bhatnagar they are just looking for the right opportunity to open there as well.
"Currently, we have 32 stores in the GCC and by the end of the year we'll have 40 to 42 stores,” Bhatnagar said. "Four will be opened in the UAE and the rest mainly in Saudi Arabia."
The plan is to employ about 200 more workers at the four new outlets in the UAE.
"In the UAE, we have now nine stores. We opened two recently – one in Dubai Mall and one in Fujairah City Centre. We are expecting to open another four – if not more – in UAE this year – one each in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah and two in Dubai. We are constantly looking for space, for example in existing malls we don't have stores like Deira City Centre and Ibn Battuta Mall. We have been talking to landlords and leasing people; in case something comes up there those will be incremental," the Emax CEO added.